Laurie Whitwell: English attention in Europe tonight will be on Arsenal as they look to cement their place in the Champions League group stages against Fenerbahce at the Emirates.

But a certain section of Stoke will have eyes on Greece. Liam Lawrence's wife and children live in Staffordshire and his club PAOK have a Champions League play-off against Schalke. Fans of Sunderland, Stoke, and Portsmouth should remember Lawrence fondly.

He joined PAOK last season and since then it has been quite a story. The team needed a late comeback win in their final domestic league match to claim a last-gasp spot in the competition and then benefited from a retrospective ban to their opponents from the last round to progress this far. They actually lost 3-1 on aggregate to Metalist Kharkiv but the Ukrainian side were thrown out after being found guilty of match-fixing.

The first leg in Germany was a creditable 1-1 draw. Unfortunately Lawrence had to come off after 60 minutes because of a pulled calf and misses tonight's game. He hopes to be back in three weeks and returning to a PAOK team in the Champions League proper.

Top drawer: Ex-Stoke wide man Liam Lawrence could qualify for the Champions League tonight

Andre Marriner has been charged with the unenviable task of refereeing David Moyes first match at Anfield as manager of Manchester United, reports Adam Crafton.

The former Everton boss returns to Merseyside this Sunday as Liverpool host the Champions in an eagerly awaited clash between the rival sides.

It is the third occasion that Marriner has been handed the responsibility of maintaining decorum in one of the most passionate and fiercely-contested fixtures in world football.

16:20

Odemwingie interest cools

Swansea City are considering pulling out of a move to sign controversial West Brom striker Peter Odemwingie, reports Riath Al-Samarrai.

Sportsmail understands an offer in the region of £1.8million has been tabled and the 32-year-old has made the Liberty Stadium his preferred option.

But Swansea sources indicated on Tuesday that patience is wearing thin with West Brom, who they claim have hiked the asked price after proposals worth £2m were made by both Cardiff City and Stoke City.

Story to follow

Losing interest: Swansea are ready to pull out of a move for Peter Odemwingie

Matt Barlow: The future of Juan Mata features heavily in today's Spanish sports pages. There are links to Atletico Madrid and the suggestion that Jose Mourinho is not keen on him but does not want to sell him to a Premier League rival.

Yet this does not ring true with Mourinho's stance on Wayne Rooney and that clubs in England ought to get past the cultural habit of refusing to sell to rivals.

It happens all the time in Italy, he pointed out only last Friday using Andrea Pirlo and Filipo Inzaghi as examples of those who have hopped around the biggest clubs in Serie A.

For the best? A swap between Man United and Chelsea could benefit everyone

Manchester City could avoid a potentially nightmare Champions League group by being bumped up to the second seeds' pot if results go their way in this week's qualifying stages.

Manuel Pellegrini's team are due to be in Pot Three for Thursday's draw after two successive exits from the competition in the group stage - last year City finished bottom and winless in a group containing Borussia Dortmund, Real Madrid and Ajax. That would mean the possibility of a group of death including City, reigning champions Bayern Munich and Juventus.

But should Lyon, Schalke and AC Milan fail to progress to the group stage this week, City will be elevated to the set of second seeds, meaning they could avoid the likes of Juve, Shaktar Donetsk and Paris Saint-Germain, who are all in Pot Two.

Try again: Manchester City were humbled in the Champions League last season

Stoke midfielders Wilson Palacios and Brek Shea could make their returns to first-team action in Wednesday's Capital One Cup second-round clash with Walsall at the Britannia Stadium.

Palacios, who underwent what the Potters described as 'a minor surgical procedure' after being pulled out of the first XI for the Premier League clash with Liverpool on August 17, has been back in training along with Shea, sidelined recently by a knee problem but part of the development team on Monday.

Colin Young: Yohan Cabaye will miss Newcastle's Capital One Cup tie at Morecambe on Wednesday as he continues to refuse to play for the club.

Arsenal target Cabaye had already refused to play in Newcastle’s opening Premier League games - against Manchester City and West Ham - and sits out the first cup tie of the season.

Toon boss Alan Pardew said: 'He either stays or he goes but he will not play tomorrow that’s for sure. The answer to this is not simple. He is either going to be sold and we have to replace him in the window we have left or he will say.'

Sami Mokbel: Deal-fixer Richard Law has arrived at Arsenal’s London Colney HQ for a critical seven days.

With just a week until the transfer window closes, the North London club’s chief negotiator made his way to their Hertfordshire training base in preparation for what they hope will be a period of record-breaking spending.

Law splits his time between the club’s London hub at Highbury House and London Colney.

Simon Jones: Arsenal have joined Tottenham in the chase for Bulgaria winger Todor Nedelev. The 20-year-old impressed Tottenham scouts and scored for Botev Plovdiv in their 3-2 win over Slavia Sofia on Sunday.

The Hoops are 2-0 down from the game against the Kazakh champions in Astana and Shakhter's Russian coach has been quoted as saying they would "score a pair of goals" in Glasgow to take them through to the group stages.

Adrian Durham: Why would Wayne Rooney want to leave Manchester United and go to play for one of the most negative coaches in Premier League history?

We all wondered whether it would be Demba Ba, Fernando Torres or Romelu Lukaku starting at Old Trafford, but Mourinho didn’t bother with a recognised striker. He didn’t even think it was a good idea to include Juan Mata, one of the most creative and dangerous players in the top flight last season.

What else could we expect from a manager who started his Real Madrid career with a goalless draw?

Charlie Skillen: Juan Mata is Chelsea’s best player. In the two years since he arrived in England from Valencia in 2011, he’s lit up the Premier League.

Winning the club’s Player of the Year of award in both seasons, leading the top flight’s assist charts and chipping in with a healthy number of goals himself - 20 in all competitions last season - it seems incomprehensible that he is not one of the club’s key players.

But he’s not. Or at least, he doesn’t seem to be under Jose Mourinho. Having played just 65 undistinguished minutes against Aston Villa this season, the Spanish playmaker didn’t get a look-in at Old Trafford in the turgid 0-0 draw against Manchester United, despite Mourinho starting four players in his attacking midfield position.

Benched: Juan Mata started against Aston Villa but didn't get a look in at Old Trafford

Colin Young: Sunderland manager Paolo Di Canio admits he is mystified by Stephane Sessegnon’s slow start to the season, but hopes his head has not been turned by the prospect of a move away from the Stadium of Light.

Fans’ favourite Sessegnon, who has kept his No 10 position behind new signing Jozy Altidore, was the pick of Sunderland’s players during pre-season, according to his own manager.

But the Benin international has failed to hit his very high standards in the opening league games against Fulham and Sunderland.

Tricky: Stephane Sessegnon hasn't had the best time of it so far this season

Former Arsenal legend Robert Pires may have unofficially retired, but that didn't stop him from unexpectedly taking the field to settle a local friendly while on holiday in Greece.

The 39-year-old had been relaxing in the Greek coastal resort of Rafina when he decided to take in an amateur game between local side Storm Rafina and AO Mykonos.

It didn't take long for the home crowd to notice the World Cup winner in their midst but, rather than ask the Frenchman for his autograph, the Storm Rafina players approached Pires after trailing 1-2 at half-time and asked if he would be interested in helping them out.

Still got it: Robert Pires was called out of the stands to play in Greece

Laurie Whitwell: Roger Rojas, the Honduran striker set to join West Ham on loan, will have a work permit hearing on Friday. As the 23-year-old is a regular in the national side, it looks like that should be successful.

Sam Allardyce said his transfer budget had been spent after signing Stewart Downing but there is a little bit of wriggle room left in the £52million annual wage allowance - under the new financial fair play rules - that the relatively low-earning Rojas fits into. The club have an option to buy at the end of the season-long loan.

Meanwhile, Ravel Morrison should make his first competitive start for West Ham tonight in their Capital One Cup tie at home to Cheltenham. It's not yet known whether he'll be wearing gloves again. In August.

Hammer: Roger Rojas (left) is set to join West Ham after a work permit hearing on Friday

Should he stay or should he go? The famous red-top Agony Aunt might just be the perfect person to tackle Wayne Rooney's huge transfer dilemma, and here's how Sportsmail imagines the troubled striker's agonised plea might read...

Agony: Deidre might be the only one capable of helping Wayne Rooney with his dilemma

Manchester City have cooled talk of a £9million takeover of Australian champions Western Sydney Wanderers, reports Chris Wheeler.

City could branch out into other parts of the world - including Australia - after launching a New York franchise in America's MLS, but sources insist they are not one of the Premier League clubs rumoured to be interested in Wanderers.

No news from WBA this morning regarding the extent of Ben Foster's foot injury, reports Neil Moxley. With Boaz Myhill also struggling and unlikely to be risked ahead of Sunday's clash with Swansea City, it would appear odds-on that former Manchester United trainee Luke Daniels' long wait for his first start will end against Newport County at the Hawthorns this evening.

Baggies' head coach Steve Clarke is likely to have taken the England international out of the firing line anyway for a Capital One Cup clash but if there is any bright spot on the horizon following Foster's injury it is finding out whether Daniels can make the grade an incredible nine years after joining the club.

First start: Luke Daniels replaced the injured Ben Foster at Everton on Saturday but is due to make his first start for West Brom against Newport County tonight

Before Jose Mourinho's and David Moyes' showdown at Old Trafford on Monday night, Sportsmail gauged fans' opinions on their new bosses and their hopes for the Premier League season.

United fans were pleased to have the man dubbed as 'The Chosen One' at the helm, but the visiting Blues outside Old Trafford remained confident Mourinho could land them the title for the first time since 2010.

Watch the video below to see the fans' views ahead of the 0-0 draw in Manchester.

Special One: Chelsea fans are in no doubt that Jose Mourinho can win the Premier League title

09:59

England recall likely for Daniel Sturridge

Heading to England squad announcement at Wembley later today, reports Neil Ashton. Expecting a recall for Daniel Sturridge after eight goals in his last seven appearances for Liverpool.

Back: Daniel Sturridge is expected to be called up for the World Cup qualifiers

Three players on show on Monday night looked like they were benefiting from a show of faith and love from their managers.

Wayne Rooney, John Terry and Frank Lampard were all in and out of the team last season but their managers have backed them now.

Rooney was playing higher up the pitch than he did most of the time last season, even going beyond Robin van Persie at times. There has been so much talk about him leaving but David Moyes has insisted he wants him to stay and he put his money where his mouth is last night. There is no better way to make Rooney feel wanted and special than by playing him.

David Moyes had admitted that Manchester United ‘will always be interested in the best players’ as rumours circulated that Tottenham received a last-ditch bid to hijack Gareth Bale’s world-record transfer to Real Madrid.

Moyes, taking charge of his first Premier League match at Old Trafford since becoming United manager, was asked immediately after the 0-0 draw with Chelsea whether he had sanctioned a bid for Tottenham’s Wales winger.

‘I said at the start when I got the job that Manchester United will always be interested in the best players and we are always looking to try to improve the team,' he said.

Martin Samuel: Thrills, intrigue, mystery — and that was just the team-sheet. A pity the show didn’t live up to the cast list.

Manchester United picked Wayne Rooney. Chelsea picked what is known in modern football parlance as a false nine. The crowd might as well have picked fluff out of their navels. A game that promised plenty, at the very least a compelling tactical battle, delivered less than the sum of its parts.

There were talented players here, but they were smothered by efficient resistance and Jose Mourinho’s gambit of coming north without a conventional starting striker. As a consequence, this wasn’t even one for the purists, for those that love the subtlety of the chess match. This was a failure, pure and simple.

Neil Ashton: Jose Mourinho has given Wayne Rooney 48 hours to make a public declaration that he wants to quit Manchester United for Chelsea.

In a stunning move following the 0-0 draw at Old Trafford, the Chelsea manager told the player ‘who started the story’ that ‘he now has to finish it’.

Chelsea have tabled two bids for the England striker and will make a third if Rooney publicly asks to leave. United fans sang Rooney’s name throughout the game and Mourinho claims he is unlikely to make another move.

Make your mind up: Wayne Rooney - who played for Man United last night - has been told to put an end to the Chelsea transfer saga